The City Never Sleeps

After waiting for donkey years, seeing several bio-epics on the big screen, Audrey Tautou is back onto the big screen with Coco Avant Chanel, a French drama which tells us the tale of how Gabrielle created the most famous brand in the world, which dominates the fashion industry in Paris, Milan and Fifth Avenue tilll today. (Looking back at the bio-epics in the previous 12 months, the only 2 bio-epics I could remember: how Donnie Yen displays Wing Chun in Ip Man, and Sean Penn, the mayor of Castro Street, fighting for gay rights in USofA in Milk. Sorry,but Bruno does not count.)

Disappointment creeps in while I was watching the movie at Lido 2 on Fri, unfortunately. (Avoided the mad crowd flocking into theatres for the past 2 weeks, since cineplexs made a bad arrangement of screening Coco at smaller halls. S'porean cineplex chain are still having the stigma that all French movies are nothing but arthouse except Yamakasi, Taxi and District 13(Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita was considered as a arthouse than action in S'pore, sad to say.). Unsurprisingly, Coco tailors her dresses and held the fashion show at tiny halls under such circumstances, which did not fail to draw a big big crowd. You have to kill to catch a glimpse of the fashion.)

Utter disappointment. Audrey Tautou was wasted in Coco Avant Chanel. Rather than a bio-epic about how Gabrielle Chanel aka Coco Chanel rise to fame through the skills of sewing and cutting, which created a new wave of fashion which dominates France's fashion industry, it was more of a love story between Coco and the two men in her life: Etienne Balsan, a French rich playboy, and Arthur 'Boy' Capel, an English friend of Etienne. If you are expecting to see what inspires her to create a unique wave of fashion during the pre WWII period, you get a little and no more.

Was enjoying some nice chocolate and cream cheese donut puff purchased from Sun Moulin bakery during the movie. Yes, the puffs are nice and big, but the show just drowns my disappointment into it. Somehow I had a habit of buying French pastries and a cup of hot chocolate when watching a movie from Audrey Tautou in Lido. Personal preference, I believe.

What I believe to kickstart a good weekend: go catch a European movie in town on a Fri night, be it Lido, Cine Orchard or The Picturehouse. Some decent independent production at The Picturehouse is not a bad choice too. Too bad, Cathay decided to release some movies that has gone straight into DVD release before making a big screen apperance at The Picturehouse, making it senseless to pay $10 per person to watch a movie where you can enjoy at the comfort of your home, with (homemade popcorn/fries/pasta/lazagne/pizza/tiramisu/any TV dinner recommended or taught by Nigella Lawson), all for less than $10.

Does making a delay release in Picturehouse means watching a movie in 35mm prints is always better than watching a movie on DVD?

Some food for thought.

Had not posted anything for about a month, and all of a sudden an urge has to be fufilled. Just like a traditional Nonya who believes that if a pregnant Nonya did not had her craving for a particular food fufilled, the child will be born drooling all the way till the child left the world. :x

So after surviving 3 reports that cost me a total weightage of 100 % (20% for HMT group, 40% each for HR and ER individual), I am kind of bumming away, not in the mood to prepare the upcoming the PM econs test 2. For the past few weeks, I am just not so attentive in lessons. My mind has wondered off somewhere else. Is there anyone who can help me to my mind back to the track?

Drilling on the reports had pulled me down from catching the latest release in cinemas. Seems that the only movie that I managed to catch in cinemas on the opening day was Turning Point aka Laughing Gor the Movie. Seeing Anthony Wong in drag (greatly inspired by Boy George) was the only wow factor that I can still remember from the movie, where he steals the limelight of Micheal Tse, who plays Laughing, the leading character. Apart from that, there's no traditional opening logo used by Shaw Brothers Studio from HK despite the movie marks the comeback of Shaw Brothers Studio, back from their heydays in the 60's and 70's.

The next movie that I watch in the cinema is something that I've seen online, uncut and raw: BRUNO. Sacha Baron Cohen makes the remark that Borat the horny creature was dead, thus Bruno is born. Bought the DVD of Borat few days back and the additional deleted scenes proves to be a shocker, even though I've watch it in Jan 2007. It seems that Cohen can get an erection anytime, anywhere. And when a human want needs to be fufilled, there will always be a solution to it: public sex in Borat, and the erection dance in Bruno (which cannot be passed thru the censors in S'pore). So what's next?

Maybe the public sex elements inspires these 2 directors who made a dumbest film of all time: CRANK and CRANK 2: HIGH VOLTAGE.

Borat was funny and distasteful. Bruno is just a recycle of Borat, with loads of homosexual elements. Unsurprisingly, I can understand why the homosexuals around the world are displeased with Bruno, for the mockumentary potrays a 'politically correct' perception on the homosexuals. Imagine gays are potray as horny creatures who lusted for sex (including the unmentionable acrobatic sex), which in real life, this is not the case. Yes, show this to an anti-homosexual, and they will nail any gays they could get their hands on and torch them alive.

While it is a norm to see it as alright and OK for a man to be horny, woman are call a nympho if they engaged in constant sex with their partner or various partners. Diario de una Ninfomana (Diary of a Sex Addict) tells a tragic tale of a young French girl named Valerie, who has a good education background and a fantastic job in Madric. However, she loves sex, to the extend of breaking up with 2 boyfriends, working in a brothel to earn money and gaining pleasure from it. Ah...isn't it wonderful to one who loves sex, since he/she can fufill their needs, and fatten their wallets at the same time? A heavy price will have to be paid eventually.

Now excuse me while I go feel the lovely scent of Chanel No 5 parfum and fantasise of getting a 2.55 for men. :)